WEB EXCLUSIVE: Soldier rescues injured hiker

1st Lt. Matthew Martin, executive officer, Company A. 4th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Stryker Combat Brigade Team, 4th Infantry Division, and his 6-month-old daughter, Grace, pose for a photo at Stanley Canyon on the U.S. Air Force Academy, May 31. Martin used the fireman’s carry to get an injured hiker down the steep 2-mile trail. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Martin)

By Staff Sgt. Nancy Lugo

Sonia Cantlebury and her husband were in Colorado Springs visiting from Utah when they went for a hike up Stanley Canyon at the Air Force Academy, May 31. Stanley Canyon is a steep 2-mile trail going into the mountains with a lake at the top. Sonia, an experienced hiker who has hiked more than 250 miles, slipped and fell on her way back down the canyon, breaking her ankle. The trail has loose rock and shale making the way down tricky with two good feet and near impossible with a broken ankle. With the sound of thunder in the air, 1st Lt. Matthew Martin, executive officer, Company A. 4th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Stryker Combat Brigade Team, 4th Infantry Division; his wife, Sarah Martin; and their 6-month-old daughter, Grace; came upon Jeff Cantlebury and another man trying to get Sonia Cantlebury down the mountain. “There is a thunderstorm coming,” Matthew Martin said as he offered to help. “We need to get you down fast … here’s what we do in the Army – fireman’s carry.” He explained how the fireman’s carry worked, then got her on his shoulders, and carried her to the bottom of the trail. The group arrived at the bottom just at the rain started. “He was just a blessing,” Sonia Cantlebury said. “I just can’t thank him enough.” On the car ride back, Sonia Cantlebury told her husband, “It is a good thing we were on a military installation.”